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Killin Community Council Meeting by Zoom on 12th January 2021 at 7.00pm
Adopted at the meeting of 09-03-21 with the following amendment: Removal of the reference to C
Grant being invited to join the Festive Lights subgroup in para 4. Proposed by C Hay and Seconded by
A Clark.
Present: A Aitken, C Hay, A Clark, R Allner, S Inglis, G McKenzie, P Farquharson, C Grant, Cllr M Earl,
Cllr J McDonald and 2 members of the public.
Apologies: D Fettes, Cllr E Tweed, B Ronald
There were no declarations of interest.
A Aitken welcomed everyone to the meeting. He said that the KCC had had a relatively quiet period
over the festive season and praised the community for their Xmas lighting displays. He asked if any
members of the public had any issues to raise, saying these would be noted and discussed at the
relevant time. A member of the public raised the issue of allotments. Another member of the public
raised the issue of winter gritting.
The minutes of the meeting on 2-11-20 were approved unanimously after proposal by S Inglis and
seconded by C Hay
KCC Activity Report: C Hay reported back on the festive celebrations. He thanked G McKenzie for
invaluable help with publicity and said that the Xmas lighting up of the village was a great success.
He said that the Santa Run, organised by Killin Drama Club and supported with a £250 donation from
the village Co-op, was very well received. He said that many local people had asked about Xmas
street lighting. A Clark reported on the distribution of emergency bags donated by SSE and thanked
the distributers. She reported that the Community Action Plan Committee had agreed with the Killin
and Ardeonaig Trust to engage an external agency to write the final draft of the CAP, which would
hopefully be completed by March 2021. She reported that the CAP, KAT and the KCC were aiming to
collaborate more closely on a range of issues. She reported that KAT had funding for tourism related
signage in the village.
Xmas Lighting: C Grant said that the Fireworks Committee had offered to help fund the village Xmas
Tree lights. He recommended that we accept their offer, and said that the Highland Games would
also help with funding. C Hay said that he thought that all the various festive lighting projects should
be combined within a subgroup tasked with taking this forward, and said that the Fireworks
committee were in favour of this idea. He suggested that the subgroup would include community
councillors, representatives from other interested groups, and members of the public that wished to
be involved. A Aitken agreed with this and proposed C Hay to take the lead in this as co-ordinator. R
Allner said that the Fireworks Committee had been reduced to 2 members, of which he was one, and
that both of them were keen to work with C Hay on the Xmas lighting project. C Grant said that the
poor quality of lighting on this year’s tree was due to Covid-19. He also said that the KCC was going
to put money in but that the funds had been used for other things. C Hay disputed both of these
things and said that that the fire brigade donation has been ringfenced and would be used for the
Xmas tree lights replacement. C Hay asked C Grant if he would be a member of the lighting
subgroup. C Grant declined. A Clark, S Inglis, R Allner and G McKenzie volunteered to help with the
subgroup. A Aitken suggested that the Xmas lighting subgroup could possibly help with the New Year
fireworks if it was required. A Clark suggested involving KAT in these discussions.
Treasurer’s Report: P Farquharson reported that there was £2100 in the accounts, with 2 cheques
still to clear.
Covid-19 Restrictions: Cllr Earl asked what the KCC’s view was of the closure of the village’s public
toilets. He mentioned the vaccination programme, and warned us of a scam exploiting the public’s
vaccination anxieties. He asked whether the community felt that they were getting an adequate
service from Stirling Council. A Aitken suggested that the public toilets, if opened, could draw people
to the village, and that there would be the additional difficulty of cleaning and sanitising them. R
Allner said that a number of people were already coming to the village and local area, in defiance of
regulations, and a lot of people were accessing the local hills. Cllr McDonald said that this was an
issue across all the rural wards. Cllr Earl pointed out that a lot of travel was essential travel. C Hay
raised the issue of bus and delivery drivers having no toilet facilities. G McKenzie suggested that, to
mitigate the risk, the station car park toilets could be opened rather than the bridge of Dochart
toilets which are more likely to be used by tourists. C Grant said that St Fillans and Aberfeldy toilets
were open. It was agreed that the KCC should propose that the car park toilets should be opened
(proposed by C Grant and seconded by S Inglis). Cllr Earl said that he would follow this up with
Stirling Council. Cllr Earl asked about the home testing kits. G McKenzie said that the issues with
home testing kits had been largely resolved.
Police Report: There were no significant issues for the local area. C Hay flagged up issues reported by
the Killin Mountain Rescue Team. S Inglis reported that there were large numbers of hill walkers, and
a lot of them were inexperienced and ill-prepared. Police have been fining some of those who are in
breach of regulations. One was charged with culpable and reckless conduct.
Planning Report. A Aitken read out an email sent to him by D Fettes, the KCC Planning Officer. D
Fettes has submitted an expression of interest in a cycling infrastructure, and reports that the plans
to merge the Friends of Breadalbane Park and the Killin Sports Hub into a single charitable body are
moving ahead. He has also lodged a question with Scottish Water for their annual Q&A forum
regarding the wastewater flooding issue at the corner of Station Road and Lyon Road. C Grant asked
about the Co-op’s planning proposal. G McKenzie said that the Co-op was progressing its planning
application steadily, resolving several issues that had arisen.
Young People’s Issues: A Aitken reported that he was very disappointed with Stirling Council’s Youth
Provision Service. He said that he had contacted SC’s YPS after the issue was raised at the last KCC
meeting in early November to initiate a conversation, but after various no-shows and excuses, that
initial conversation had still to take place. A Clark reported that she believed that there had been
some progress on this and that the KAT representative in the KAT-KCC joint initiative was hoping to
leverage funding for Killin to organise its own youth provision with SC funding. Cllr Earl explained
there was a three-way split with SC Youth Provision, Callander Youth Project and Callander Sports
Hub. Cllr Earl suggested that the SC Cllrs should be copied into any complaints about SC Youth
Provision.
AOCB: A Aitken called on the member of public who was concerned about gritting on secondary
roads. She reported that failure to Grit Lyon Road between the school and the nurse’s clinic. S Inglis
explained that Stirling Council had a gritting policy and allocated streets. He was unsure about the
distribution of grit bins. Cllr Earl said that the policy on provision of grit bins had not changed, and
was based on a number of factors. A Clark said that the station car park could be hazardous in icy
conditions. G McKenzie suggested that the KCC should ask SC to either grit this section or provide
grit bins. Cllr Earl offered to send us the relevant winter gritting policy document. He said that the
provision of grit and gritting could be assessed against SC’s own stated policy, and the KCC could
then argue for a level of provision that was within policy guidelines or a change of policy. Cllr
McDonald supported this suggestion. C Grant raised the issue of vehicle regularly being parked in
spaces normally used by adjacent premises. S Inglis said that there was nothing to prohibit the
vehicles being parked there. Cllr McDonald suggested that a SC parking survey and subsequent
parking strategy could help solve this. SC have scheduled Killin for such a survey in 2021-22. He
suggested that the KCC could initiate their own audit/survey of parking issues in the area, which
could then feed into SC’s survey. A Clark suggested that we invite comments and contributions on
village parking priorities on the KCC Facebook page. C Grant asked if anyone had followed up the
issue of a local business being told that the empty shop in the Main Street, owned by the Hogg Trust
was not for lease, despite being clearly advertised as such. C Hay, who had left the meeting due to
another commitment, had been tasked with this. A Aitken to check with C Hay. Cllr Earl suggested
that the KCC maintain a record of any such complaints. Cllr McDonald suggested that the potential
business and the KCC could also ask for assistance from SC’s economic development team. A
member of the public raised the issue of the provision of allotments. He said that he had been in
touch with SC on behalf of the Killin Allotment Association, and that they had 20 people who wanted
access to an allotment and asked for a letter of support from the KCC. A Aitken asked if the
Association had a constitution. The answer was no, just a Facebook page. A Aitken said that KCC
support should be dependent on the KAA being properly constituted with elected office bearers, and
the provision of a list of those residents who wanted an allotment. S Inglis said that he would like to
see some more information, such as the identification of land suitable for allotments. The KAA has
been looking at land outside of the village. G McKenzie said he had a contact at Stirling Voluntary
Enterprise who would be able to give some help in formalising the KAA. He will pass the contact
details on to them. G McKenzie raised the issue on Community Awards also raised previously. G
McKenzie, C Grant and P Farquharson to work on this. G McKenzie raised the issue of poor
maintenance of the local graveyard. Cllr Earl said that this had been raised with SC and the
maintenance work would be completed and done properly. He asked if he could be kept updated on
this. A Aitken to do this. Cllr Earl asked if we had a representative attending the National Park’s
stakeholder forum tomorrow. A Aitken said that this would normally be A Clark’s remit as the forum
was focusing on tourism issues, but she was unable to attend, A Aitken had asked the owner of the
Killin Hotel to attend this forum as the community’s representative. A Aitken to ask the owner of the
Killin Hotel for feedback on this event. R Allner raised another scam attempt exploiting Covid-19
grants. A Clark questioned why there was no sign at Pier Road signposting Loch Tay. Cllr Earl asked if
this was a recognized and permissible route to the Loch. S Inglis pointed out that there was no
parking provision at the end of Pier Road, and no passing places either. G McKenzie raised the issue
of speeding on station road. Cllr Earl suggested that the KCC could request SC to consider a 20mph
zone on Station Road. This would have the advantage of including traffic calming measures such as
speed bumps. A Clark to write letters to Bear and SC, as many of the vehicles speeding were from
these agencies. KCC to ask for a speed survey of the village and local area, pointing out the KCC’s
particular concerns. Cllr Earl and Cllr McDonald to raise these issues with SC, and A Clark and A
Aitken to follow this up. G McKenzie pointed out that movable speed bumps had once been installed
on Station Road, but these had all broken over the years and had been cleared to the verge, where
they still remain. It was agreed to settle on the second Tuesday of every alternate month as the
default date of future KCC meetings.
Date of next meeting Tuesday 9th March by Zoom at 7.00pm.
Meeting closed.